Man with 25ft shark sticking out his roof in heritage status battle with council

The owner of a home with a 25 foot shark sticking out of its roof is in a battle with the council over their plans for his property.

Dr Magnus Hanson-Heine, a University of Nottingham chemistry researcher, inherited the landmark property in Oxford from his late father.

The city council now want to give his home listed status as an 'important piece of heritage'.

But Dr Hanson-Heine says this would be "exactly the opposite of the point" if the council's plans were to go ahead, after his dad's long row to install it in the first place.

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His dad Bill Heine appointed architect John Buckley to install the statue on the top of the house as a protest against “planning restrictions and censorship” back in 1986.

The 34-year-old told Nottinghamshire Live : "My dad was living in a cinema he owned across the road called the Moulin Rouge.

"Him, John and their friends had put up these sculpted Can Can legs on top of the house, but then the council at the time said 'no', so politely asked them to be removed, and, ultimately, forced them them to be taken down.

"So there has been an ongoing battle with the council about public art and what you can and cannot put on display on a property you own."

Dr Hanson-Heine said that the shark also represents a stance against war, and that his dad came up with this idea after reading a newspaper one morning about the bombing in Tripoli.

"On his first night in the house he was awoken by planes flying very low overhead," he added.

"In the morning he learned about the bombing, and obviously he has just moved into this new house and had this sense of stability and safety, but he was seeing